Monday 13 Apr 2009, 1:16am
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DISCLAIMER: The following text is probably rife with errors and bad taste.
Week two brings a lot of good stuff to the table, and brings a lot of negatives to the table. As usual, the bands that made a good impression last week are still holding their own and remaining enjoyable as Hel(e)l. Alien Deviant Circus' "Satanic Djihad" required some growing time for me, but was overall a pretty great listen. Not as harsh or epic as "En To Pan Omegas", but still a creative and refreshing dose of industrial black metal.
Now, enough with the recapping. Its time to move on to the new discoveries of the week, which are namely what one is looking for when reading about a particular genre of music. Newcomers (and for some, as I've decided, mainstays) this week are Neo Inferno 262, La Division Mentale, and the absolutely wonderful Diapsiquir!
As previously stated, this is a genre that needs to thrive on breaking down barriers and moving forward. Industrial black metal can be an incredibly powerful and intense genre, but only when you're hearing something you haven't heard before. I've found that almost no band can properly clone another, which may or may not be something of note in the scene. Could it be due to respect, or due to a necessity for creativity? Who knows. Regardless, onto our newcomers!
Neo Inferno 262's artistic direction is one that several industrial BM bands are going for - a futuristic world run by some technologically advanced form of Satan. It's definitely a growing trend in the young scene, if nothing else. Anywho, the interesting thing with this band though is that they perfectly capture the feeling of an airy, technological city rife with a secret and evil agenda. Quite the interesting blend of electronic dance music, the odd industrial splash of percussion and some tasty black metal riffs. An overuse of samples isn't a problem either, though they are abundant.
La Division Mentale and Diapsiquir are two other big names in the industrial BM scene nowadays, though Diapsiquir have sadly disbanded as of late. Their goal seems similar in the sense that they both try to create deranged, captivating music. Both succeed, but in their own way. Diapsiquir's music can only be described as an entire city of degenerates voicing their disdain over several epic tracks full of creative riffing and unconventional ideals. One could easily say the band go as far as to be an avant-garde industrial black metal band. For those interested in checking them out, it's probably a good idea to start with "Virus S.T.N.".
La Division Mentale, on the other hand, are somewhat new to the scene. Though their work could benefit from a slightly heavier production job (as could Diapsiquir's debut album, though it also suffers from a large overuse of loud percussion), their riffing style has a more unstable and loose feel to it, while carving out a nice niche in the background for a selection of peculiar beeps and whirrings.
Now, onto the negatives of the week. Deserving a good deal less attention and positive commentary are oOo, and Control Human Delete. While the first is the result of the notorious "trying too hard without enough ideas" syndrome, the latter is the product of the awful trend of "industrial metal" we've recently seen rising up in places.
See, there are three (main) ways to go about playing industrial metal music. The first is how Godflesh did it, with an extremely large emphasis on pounding grooves and very mechanical riffage that breaks rocks. The second is by merging a slightly colder, sharper guitar tone with industrial (or electronic) elements and fusing them comfortably. The last way is by creating awful, one dimensional and simple riffs that carry on and on without going anywhere (looking at you, Fear Factory). Control Human Delete go for method number 3 and tend to lack a good amount of impact with their music. I'm told they sound like Norwegian "industrial" metallers Dødheimsgard. If this is what Dødheimsgard sound like, I'll stay away.
Rounding off this weeks journal, one may recall that last week I said some somewhat hasty things about Blacklodge (Particularly their album SolarKult). After a little growing time, the album is starting to reveal just how good it is to me. Not my favorite, but far from bad. There are an abundance of blackened thrashy riffs among the powerful industrial black ones, for example. Good stuff.
For those who are interested, industrial black metal mainstays Thorns are working on getting their second full length album released soon. Definitely something to look out for, seeing as Snorre has always been good at what he does. For those interested in Diapsiquir… Ha. Hahahaha. Mine.
